


Awake, dear heart, awake

by vix_spes



Series: Tempest/Mojo 'verse [1]
Category: Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 16:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bradley flew back from the States hoping to spend a bit of quality time with Colin in between performances. He wasn't planning on playing nursemaid...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awake, dear heart, awake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chaosmaka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosmaka/gifts).



> Written for the fabulous [chaosmaka](http://chaosmaka.livejournal.com) who is awesome and my theatre buddy when she’s in London. I promised her this fic when the two of us were tin-hatting sat in the returns queue for Tempest tickets. Obviously huge artistic licence taken with events. Beta-ed by the fab [thedragonsinger](http://thedragonsinger.livejournal.com). Title from William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

When Bradley let himself back into the flat after his emergency dash to the shops for yet more orange juice, tissues and whatever over the counter medications Colin had yet to try, he was greeted by the sounds of somebody moving around rather than the sound of silence because Colin was still in bed. And bed was exactly where he should be. Contrary to what Colin thought, he wasn’t superhuman and it was inevitable that he would get ill from time to time. It was just incredibly bad luck that he had managed to get ill now, so close to the end of The Tempest’s run. Of course, Colin being Colin and a workaholic, he had carried performing on stage for much longer than he should have done which just made things worse. And of course, Colin being Colin, he hadn’t told Bradley that he was even slightly ill despite them having multiple conversations on the phone.

He had got to Colin’s flat four days ago while Colin was still performing in the midnight show, letting himself in with his key and then pretty much collapsing on the couch and dozing off. He had woken up to the sound of keys in the lock and what sounded like Colin hacking up a lung. Once the ‘welcome home’ hugs and kisses had been exchanged, Bradley had questioned his boyfriend how long he had had that cough only to be fobbed off by Colin looking rather pathetic and asking if they could just go to bed and cuddle.

Not that Bradley objected to that. It had been a long flight, even if he was getting more used to making the journey, and he would never complain about getting the opportunity to have Colin in his arms. As far as he was concerned, that was just one of the many disadvantages to a long-distance relationship. Something wasn’t quite right though, not as it usually was.

Colin was normally cold, particularly his feet which were like blocks of ice, and, unless they had just had sex, went to bed wearing an unusual amount of clothes. If they didn’t have to leave the house and they were both in the same place, then he had the tendency to steal Bradley’s hoodies. Tonight though, he was uncharacteristically warm and while Bradley was a little concerned, it was gone four am and both of them needed sleep. In fact, maybe sleep was all Colin needed.

When Bradley woke up mid-morning it became clear that sleep wasn’t going to make Colin’s illness go away. Colin was still much warmer than normal and was shivering slightly. This wasn’t good. Wanting to let Colin get as much sleep as possible, Bradley decided not to bother getting up and simply stayed in bed. He would probably doze off again anyway given the opportunity. He proceeded to do exactly that, only waking up again when Colin started stirring in his arms. Bradley had hoped that the reason for Colin’s slightly elevated temperature was part of one of these random twenty-four hour virus things that would disappear if Colin rested enough and got some sleep. The realisation that that wasn’t going to be the case became apparent when Colin snuffled, rolled over and tried to say good morning. Tried being the operative word. A more appropriate description would be that he managed to rasp out the words ‘good morning’. The sound made Colin’s eyes widen and his attempt to clear his throat just ended up in a reappearance of the hacking cough from when he arrived home. The probability that this was simply a twenty-four hour virus was looking less and less likely.

As the weekend progressed, Bradley found himself dealing with an increasingly sick and grumpy Colin. The Irishman barely moved from the couch, cocooning himself in tracksuit bottoms, thick socks, several t-shirts and one of Bradley’s hoodies. All of that was then covered with a blanket. Bradley was fairly certain that, if he could get away with it, Colin would be wearing one of his beanies. As it was, he had to content himself with acting as a pillow-come-giant teddy bear while trying to coax Colin into drinking as many fluids as possible and generally being a good boyfriend.

It wasn’t easy. Far from it.

They had always had very different approaches to work, something that had been made apparent during their years on Merlin. They both had a strong work ethic but Colin was something else. He was, quite simply, a workaholic. That meant that having to phone in to The Globe every day that The Tempest was on to tell them that he couldn’t perform and that Matthew would have to go on instead was killing him. Logically, Colin knew that it was in his best interests to not perform but that didn’t make it any easier. The first phone call on the Sunday was the worst. Especially as he was calling in to tell the management that he wouldn’t be able to do either performance that day. There was nothing that Bradley could say that would placate his boyfriend so he didn’t really try. Instead, he went shopping and bought not only food but whatever over-the-counter cold and flu medicines Colin hadn’t yet tried. He then set about distracting Colin as much as possible with DVD box sets and cuddles. He had tentatively tried to broach the subject of Colin having a holiday when Tempest finished, going back to Ireland to see his family or even coming back to the States with Bradley for a bit. Just taking some time out to recoup and make sure that he was back to full health. That suggestion had been shot down in flames when Colin admitted that he was in negotiations to do another West End play, Mojo, that would be opening in October but that nothing had been confirmed yet.

By the time they got to Wednesday morning, when Bradley nipped out to the shops, Colin was practically clawing at the walls. The problem was, Colin had only missed so many performances because he wasn’t actually able to talk let alone project his voice enough to fill the Globe or sing. And that wasn’t even taking into account the mob of fangirls that would be waiting at the stage door for Colin to emerge. When he’d gone out to the shops, Bradley had wondered if Colin would do something stupid and, if he did, whether he would attempt it while Bradley was out. At least this way, with Colin still being in the flat, he might be able to talk Colin round from whatever mad idea he had had. Dumping the orange juice in the fridge, it became apparent what Colin’s mad idea was the moment that he saw him.

“Do you honestly think that you can get through a whole performance?” Bradley watched as Colin continued to get dressed. “Cols, you were asleep more than you were awake yesterday. I’m amazed that you actually managed to stand long enough to have a shower.”

“So?”

“I think it’s a really bad idea to do a performance today. To try and do two performances. I know you really want to do it and that you’re feeling better but, it could just make you worse. Is it worth making yourself worse for the sake of a couple of shows?” He could see that he was starting to get through to Colin, or at least he hoped that he was.

“I need to do today’s performances because they’re filming for the DVD.”

“I thought that they were filming last week? Isn’t that what you said?”

“They did film last week but they’re filming again tonight.”

Bradley leapt on that little bit of information. “So they’re only filming tonight, not the matinee?” He waited for Colin to respond before speaking again. “Then just do tonight’s performance. That’s the important one. Let Matthew do this afternoon and get another couple of hours rest so you can save yourself for the filming.” He could see Colin pause, obviously mulling over his words and resisted the urge to cross his fingers behind his back.

“Okay, I’ll phone them and talk to them.”

Colin didn’t look happy at the words but Bradley could deal with that. Wanting to try and placate Colin, he reached a hand out and grabbed Colin lightly by the wrist as he moved past to find his phone. Tugging Colin in closer, he kissed him gently despite Colin’s faint protests about infecting Bradley.

“I’m not going to catch anything Cols. I’m not trying to force you to miss another show. I don’t want you to miss any more than you have to. I just want you to do what’s best for you.”

Colin’s lips quirked up slightly at the corners, and he leaned in to kiss Bradley again. “I know. Thanks. I’ll go and phone them now.”

Wanting to give Colin space to make the phone call, Bradley wandered into the kitchen to make some food that they would both eat. He had resorted to faffing around by the time that Colin came into the kitchen.

“Well?”

Colin gave a bit of a deprecating smile. “You’ll be pleased to know that the Globe is of the same opinion as you. They think it’s a very bad idea for me to attempt to do two performances today. If I’m convinced that I can perform then they suggest that I miss the matinee and do tonight when they’re going to film it.”

“Okay. That makes sense. What else did they say?”

“If I do perform, I’m not allowed to do any of the moving around the galleries, the gymnastics, parkour or the stilts. The only things that I am allowed to do are the dances because they can’t really be taken out.”

Bradley didn’t really know what to say to that so he just opened his arms, relieved when Colin walked into them without hesitation, accepting the hug that was offered.

“What time do you have to be at the theatre?”

“About four? I want to try and get in before the matinee finishes.”

“Sounds like a good idea. The fangirls are going to go mental when they find out that you’ll actually be on stage. All the people that have acted at the Globe and it’s you that needs barriers at the stage door.” Bradley smiled at the bark of laughter that comment received, although it faded as the laughter turned into another hacking cough. “If you’re going to perform tonight, why don’t you go to bed and try to get a couple more hours of rest?”

“Why can’t I just stay on the couch with you?”

“I didn’t say you’d be going to bed by yourself did I?”

**_Several hours later…_ **

“You really didn’t have to come with me you know. You could’ve just stayed at the flat.” Despite his words, Colin had a firm grip on Bradley’s hand and hadn’t let it go since they got in the car.

“It’s fine, I wanted to come. I’ll go and meet some friends while you’re at the theatre, then meet you here later.”

What Bradley didn’t mention was that, while Colin was having his second shower of the day and before Bradley joined him, he had phoned the company manager at the Globe and managed to get them to agree to him watching the play from backstage. They slipped back into silence for the rest of the journey, until the car came to a halt outside a rarely used emergency exit that was being held open by one of the Globe staff. Taking advantage of the blacked out car windows, Colin leant in and pressed a kiss to Bradley’s lips; a kiss that Bradley had no compunction in lengthening.

“Thank you for this weekend. I know taking care of me wasn’t exactly what you imagined happening.”

Bradley pressed another kiss to Colin’s mouth. “Nowhere I’d rather be. Now go on before someone catches you and I’ll pick you up later.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/139111.html)


End file.
